Friday, July 24, 2009

Got some art done this morning, lunch with the hubby, a nice nap in this afternoon, some lovin’ this evening, then a wonderful dinner out and my daughter made my favorite brownies with vanilla ice cream lots of pecans and drizzled with caramel sauce. OMG, talk about heavenly! I haven’t had one yet…that’s my reward for finishing my sisters birthday present this evening (after I finish this blog entry.)

My little sister and I have been on the outs for about 3 years, barely speaking during that entire time after having been close our whole lives before that time. But when my oldest sister attempted suicide at the beginning of June, it made us both come to our senses about carrying grudges. My oldest sister is doing well, seeing a psychiatrist and working through some serious issues….and, because of her meltdown, my siblings and I, especially my little sister and I, have renewed the relationship that we should have had all along.

Anyway, now that I’m made a short story long, my little sister came to visit last weekend and we had a wonderful time.

Family feels even better than I remembered…I had no idea just what i had been missing out on by excluding them (her) from my life. This is a picture Richie, my hubby, took of us out on our deck during her visit (Mandy’s on the left and that’s yours truly on the right.) The smiles are genuine and the love is real. I’m just glad that we’re working past all that stupid stuff that came between us for so long. I love this picture.

For my birthday she gave me this beautiful collectable Willow Tree piece called “Heart and Soul” that she somehow knew I would love and cherish:

And I do.

Opening it brought tears to my eyes. It showed me that we really are working through the bad stuff and that she felt it, too.

It let me know that my sister really can be my best friend, even if we have differences in our views and beliefs.

It reminded me of how much I love her and need her in my life…and how much she loves me needs me in her life, too.

So, for her birthday I decided to do something original for her. I took that picture of us that we have from her recent visit and I turned it into a watercolor painting using a masking resist technique. It’s the first time I’ve ever done one and I’m really proud of how it turned out (although it looks kinda sucky on here.)Then I took a plain black frame with a white mat and decorated it to tell her how I feel….

So there is one of her birthday gifts…the other is a pink silicone case for her iPhone (yes, we are BOTH addicted to our iPhones) that I’m going to personalize for her (I just gotta figure out what works on silicone/gel first…any ideas???)

So, what do you think? Seriously, I’m asking…Be honest cause i don’t want to give her something hokey or that she’ll go UGH at, ya know?…so give it to me straight, I can take it.

Oh, and what did the hubby do for me for my birthday? Besides the beautiful card and yummy candle, plus dinner out tonight? Well, we’re leaving for Clearwater Beach, Florida on Tuesday…our hotel room is right on the beach and we’re going to Busch Gardens, spend time laying on the beach relaxing, he’s booked me a massage at the spa, take in the Salvador Dali museum, and whatever else we decide to do. YAY!!!

Well, I have that awesome brownie delight calling out to me so I’m headed to the kitchen for my birthday treat.

Monday, July 13, 2009

It’s been a busy Monday! We had to do an inventory at our store in Sumiton, about 75 miles away, and didn’t get home until after 7:30 this evening…and I am dead beat. The hubby is laying here beside me, snoring lightly, off in dream land…where I really should be, to be honest.

I’ve not felt like art journaling much in the past couple of days…just too exhausted to find anything creative inside me at the moment. I find that i miss it when I don’t do it, though.

I have started a Gratitude Journal that I keep on my iPhone (I do love my iPhone!) so that I don’t feel like I’m not doing any journaling at all when I’m just too tired to dive into one of my art journals at the end of the day.

OH, and I have signed up for Dawn Sokol’s Art Journal Stimulus Project-online workshop. Dawn is the author of the wonderful book pictured in my sidebar, “1000 Artist Journal Pages”, It is one of my very favorite books! The workshop is uber affordable at $15 for 10 weeks and tarts August 12th. Get more info or sign up and join me on Dawn’s website, D’Blogala.

I guess the most creative thing I’ve done in the past few days is the haircut I gave my son-in-law….and what a haircut it is!

Before….

After…

Whew….talk about a difference! lol He loves it and my daughter is warming up to it, too.

I’ve made Pink Lemonaid Pie (which is soooo yummy but way rich! Let me know if you want the super easy recipe)….

…and I have even done some sketches and Zentangles but haven’t managed to scan or take pics of any them, yet.

Life is moving right along, as it should, and I am making it my goal to enjoy every minute of it…even when I’m exhausted.

Love to you all and thanks so much for welcoming me so warmly back to the blogosphere!

Friday, July 10, 2009

Hi y’all. I know it’s been a while…a very long while…but it was time that I desperately needed to acclimate to working again, fitting art into a much fuller schedule, and just some down time without feeling the pressure (self-induced, i admit) to blog.

Much has happened in the past 5 1/2 weeks that i will share with y’all in due time, yet nothing has happened…if that makes any sense at all.

I did make the decision to make this MY blog…not just about art and journaling but about my life, too. More about my life than before. I guess that’s something I should have given my self permission to do when I began this blog but I didn’t so when my art production went down, I felt as though I shouldn’t blog.

What a crock that is.

This is my space, my little online world of my own making so why had I made these crazy rules about what I could and couldn’t include here? I really guess it had to do with the fear of losing readership if I wasn’t artsy enough or creative enough. But now, well, I yam what I yam and to try and be something I’m not was suffocating me. Yes, I am artsy and creative and love to make tons of different things in my own crafty-artsy way…but I also have a life with a husband, kids, a grandson, sisters, brothers, a job, bills, good days and bad days, tears and laughter. I just came to the conclusion that my art is not the only thing about me that I want to share in this space…and that is what the days to come have in store for the pages here.

I hope you’ll like the other parts of me that I will share from here on out and that you’ll keep in mind that I’m human, with quirks and opinions and I make mistakes as well as have my triumphs…it’s all fair game.

If you’ve read this far, thank you. Thank you for letting me step back into your life after a little hiatus; thank you for your patience.